Refrigerator latch



1 Nov. 17, 1942. L. 1.. ANDERSON REFRIGERATOR LATCH Filed June 19, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l nvefibr demon I .Llo

Nov. 17, 1942. ANDERSON 2,302,165

REFRIGERATOR LATCH Filed June 19, 1941 Z'Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 17, 1942 REFRIGERATOR LATCH Lloyd L. Anderson, Grandville, Mioh., assignor to Winters & Crampton Corporation, Grandville, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application June 19, 1941, Serial No. 398,783

6 Claims.

This invention relates in general to latch constructions and is particularly adapted for use on refrigerator doors.

The particular type of handle which is shown and described here is of the character which has a twisting motion to operate and retract the latch bolt. It is of elongated form and rotates about its longitudinal axis. By the very nature of the handle structure it is undesirable to connect it in the ordinary manner with the latch bolt be cause of the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient amount of leverage initially to retract the latch bolt.

It is, therefore, one of the objects of this invention to provide a novel mechanism connecting the handle with the latch bolt which will be effective in retracting the latch bolt with a minimum of effort exerted upon the turning of the handle.

Due to the fact that the usual gasket, which is located between the door and the body of a refrigerator, exerts a certain amount of outward pressure it will be obvious that a greater initial force will be required to begin retraction of the latch bolt, and the force required will become less as the bolt is retracted and as it nears the edge of the keeper. It is, therefore, another ob- J'ect' of the invention to provide novel means whereby, upon operating the handle to open the door of the refrigerator, the greatest amount of leverage obtained will be upon the initial movement of the handle and as the latch bolt continues to be retracted a faster movement thereof will take place but the leverage obtained will become less.

A still further and more specific object of the invention is the provision of a cam yoke which bears against a member having a camming surface thereon of such configuration that a greater leverage will be produced when the cam yoke is initially moved than after it has moved a predetermined distance, said member being connected by a toggle mechanism to the latch bolt.

As above explained, the twisting action of this particular type of handle is not practical in the ordinary latch construction because of the extreme shortness of the leverage which normally produces an action which makes it difficult to release the latch bolt under the tightness of the gasket pressure.

The latch bolt is pivotally mounted and, in connection with the toggle arrangement and the novel camming means above mentioned, the bolt becomes forced backward into the housing almost immediately after the toggle has broken over dead center and therefore does not always require manual retraction of the bolt for its complete stroke. It is therefore obvious that the most difficult part of the action in the handle is at the initial movement thereof. The novel camming means provides the greatest amount of leverage where it is most needed and immediately after the start of the handle movement the leverage decreases through the rest of the handle movement where such a great leverage is not required. Other objects and purposes of the invention will appear more fully as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The annexed drawings and following description set forth in detail certain means for carrying out my invention, said means constituting, however, but one of various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views:

.Fig. l is a front elevational view of the latch construction disassociated from the refrigerator door showing portions thereof in section.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section taken substantially on the plane of line 2-2 in Fig; 3.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the structure as it is mounted in the door of a refrigerator, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken substantially on the plane of line 44 in Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings it is seen that an elongated vertically positioned housing I is provided which, at the rear edge of each side thereof is provided with outwardly extending flanges 2. A supporting structure including spaced apart side members 3 con nected at their rear ends by a cross plate 4 and having'their forward edges provided with outwardly extending flanges 5, is secured by means of these last named flanges to the flanges 2 of the housing at the lower end thereof.

- A latch bolt having spaced apart sides 6 is pivotally mounted at one end thereof by means of the pivot pin 1 which extends between the sides of the latch bolt and the sides 3 of the supporting structure. At the inner. end of the latch bolt a keeper engaging head 8 is'secured between the sides thereof and, as is usual, extends angularly from the latch bolt so that a pivotal movement thereof will. either retract or extend the head. An arm or spring guide 9 extends from the latch bolt and is provided at one end thereof with a longitudinal slot Ill and has at its other end shoulder portions I I at each side thereof. A pivot pin I2 extends between the sides 6 of the latch bolt and through the slot I and is adapted to traverse said slot when permitted to do so. A coiled compression spring surrounds the arm 9 and bears at one end against the pivot pin I2 and at its other end against the shoulders I I.

A member having spaced apart sides I4 connected at one side thereof by the cross piece I5 is pivotally mounted adjacent the shouldered end of the arm 9 by means of the pivot pin I6 which is supported between the sides 3 of the support and extends between the sides I4 of this member. Another pivot pin I'I extends only between the sides I4 of the member and through the shouldered end of the arm. A stop I8 extends inwardly from each side 3 of the support against which the sides I4 of the pivoted member will come against and limit its rotation in one direction. A coiled spring I9 surrounds the pivot pin I6 and has one end thereof extending outwardly and bearing against the stop member I8 while its other end bears against one edge of the cross piece I5 thereby urging the pivoted member against the stops I3 in the normal position thereof.

Thus far, then, the structure comprises a toggle wherein dead center is when the three pivot pins 12, I6 and H are in alinement with each other. In the normal position of the toggle as shown in Fig. 4 the toggle is locked against movement and the only way in which the keeper engaging head 8 can be retracted is by forcing it inwardly against the compression of the spring I3 so that the pivot pin I2 will traverse the slot II]. This normally happens when the refrigerator door is being closed. The retraction of the bolt cannot take place after the door is closed except upon breaking the toggle and moving it past dead center by a rotation of the pivoted member about its pin IS in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4.

One edge of the cross piece I5 is flanged outwardly at an angle therefrom as at and its outer edge is curved substantially as shown in Fig. 1 thus making the flange of a substantially triangular shape. Adjacent this pivoted member a camming yoke is provided which has spaced apart side members ZI mounted upon a pivot pin 22 which extends between the forward side of the housing I and one of the flanges 5 in the support, and a cross piece 23 connecting the sides 2| and is angularly disposed with respect to the flange 20 to form a camming surface. A coiled spring 24 surrounds the pivot pin 22 and has one of its ends extending through an opening in the housing I and its other end bearing against an edge of the cross piece 23 thereby normally maintaming it in the position as shown in Fig. 1.

One of the sides 2| is extended outwardly and is offset as at 25 and is provided with an opening therein through which passes the lower end of the rod 26 which is bent at right angles to conveniently pass therethrough. The upper end of the rod 26 is also turned at right angles and passes through an opening in the rear of an arm 21 which extends forwardly and is secured to one end of the handle 28.

The door of the refrigerator is indicated at 29 and is formed in the usual mannen'but has an opening therein to receive a dished plate 30 which is located immediately behind the handle 28. At each end of the handle and secured to the dished plate, members 3| and 32 are located to which each end of the handle 28 is pivotally secured by means of the pivot pins 33.

The refrigerator body is indicated at 34 and is provided at the edge of the opening therein with the keeper 35 substantially as shown in Fig. 4 against which the head 8 of the latch bolt bears when in latched position. Adjacent the edge of the door and at the inner side thereof the usual rubber gasket 36 is located. It will be evident that when the door is closed and is in latched position the gasket 36 will exert a certain amount of pressure which will be transmitted between the keeper and the head of the latch bolt. An observance of this fact will mak it obvious that any motion which takes place to retract the latch bolt will require a greater force or leverage initially. As the latch bolt continues to be retracted and the edge thereof approaches the edg of the keeper a lesser force will be required and as it reaches the end of the head the force of the gasket will be suflicient to completely retract the bolt and permit the door to open.

It also occurs occasionally that the coiled spring I3 will not be completely spent when the door is latched. That is, if a sufiicient force is not imparted to the door when it is closed, the head of the latch bolt will not be extended its full distance and therefore there will remain a certain amount of force in the spring I3 urging the head to keeper engaging position. When this happens both the force of the spring I3 and the force of the gasket 36 must be overcome when the latch bolt is initially retracted thereby making it even more necessary that a sufliciently great amount of leverage be obtained by movement of the handle for the initial movement of the latch bolt rearwardly.

It has been explained how the latch bolt functions and why it is necessary to obtain a great amount of force upon the initial retraction thereof. It is also evident that the type of handle disclosed herein, where it is rotated about it longitudinal axis, will not ordinarily exert a sufficient amount of force because of its extremely short leverage. The complete invention here resides in the novel mechanism which has been provided for connecting the handle with the latch bolt so that a great leverage will be obtained upon initial movement of the handle.

The reason why the leverage will be greater at the beginning of the retraction of the bolt and becomes less as the bolt is retracted by means of the mechanism explained above will be more readily understandable by viewing Figs. 1 and 4. In the extended position of the latch bolt as in Fig. 4 the cam yoke and its associated member will be as shown in Fig. 1. The cam yoke pivots about the pin 22 by a force exerted thereon at the point where the rod 26 enters the end of the arm 25. This distance then forms one arm of a lever. The pivotally mounted member I5 which has its flange 20 with a cam edge thereon is connected to the latch bolt by means of the usual toggle mechanism. From a View of Fig. 1 it will be evident that the point of contact between the cam 23 and the flange 20 will be a lesser distance from the pin 22 than the point where force is exerted on the arm 25. The other arm of the lever at any given time will be the distance between the pivot pin. 22 and the point of contact between the cam 23 and the edge of the flange 20. This second arm being comparatively short in the position shown in Fig. 1 a great amount of leverage will be obtained and a great force will be exerted upon the pivoted member 15 to begin the retraction of the latch bolt. As the cam yoke rotates in a clockwise direction about the pivot pin 22 the second arm of the lever will increase in length thereby increasing the speed of retraction of the latch bolt and reducing the amount of leverage. It is also to be noted (Fig. 4) that between the bearing part 23 of the yoke and the curved edge of the flange 20, there will be a rolling contact, substantially eliminating friction. As the latch bolt nears its completely retracted position a lesser amount of leverage will he needed, so it will be evident by this construction that the greatest amount of leverage is at the beginning of the retraction of the latch bolt where it is needed most and the least amount of leverage is obtained where the leverage is needed least. The rotative movement of the cam yoke is imparted by a rotation of the handle 28 about its longitudinal axis which will elevate the rear end of the arm 21 connected thereto and which has the rod 26 connected between it and the cam yoke.

It is believed that a novel mechanism a well as function has been disclosed, and while the mechanism may be utilized in conjunction with any desired type of handle, it is particularly adapted for use with handles which, by their very nature, will not be able to obtain a great amount of leverage by means of the usual connections. The device has been found to operate satisfactorily in practice and has other advantages such as economy of manufacture.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be used instead of the one here described, change being made as regards the structure herein disclosed provided, however, that the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. In a latch construction having a support, a latch bolt pivotally mounted at one end thereon, a toggle arm pivotally and slidably connected with the latch bolt at one end thereof, a second toggle member pivotally mounted on the support and pivotally connected to said arm, the end of said member extending beyond its pivot having a flange with a curved edge, spring means normally tending to hold the toggle in dead center line position, a pivotally mounted actuating member having a contact portion engaging said curved edge of the flange, the contact point thereof being nearest to the pivot of said actuating member when the toggle is in dead center position and said contact point continuously movin away from said pivot as the actuating member is operated to progressively and relatively largely increase the distance of the contact point from said pivot, said actuating member engaging against said curved edge and having a rolling contact therewith, and means for manually operating the actuating member.

2. In a latch construction having a support, a latch bolt pivotally mounted thereon at one end and having keeper engaging means at its opposite end, a toggle comprising two arms pivotally connected together, one of said arms having a pivotal and slidable connection with the latch bolt between its ends and the second arm being pivotally mounted on said support, said second arm having a flange with a curved edge extending therefrom a distance from its pivotal mounting on the support, a pivotally mounted member provided with a contact portion engaging said curved edge of the flange and adapted on turning said member about its pivot to have a, rolling contact therewith and operate said toggle to retract the latch bolt, the point of contact of said member with said flange progressively moving away from the pivotal axis of said member, and a spring disposed between the second arm of the toggle and the support for normally holding the toggle in dead center position.

3. In a latch construction having a support with a latch bolt pivotally mounted at one end on the support and provided with keeper engaging means at the opposite end and a toggle comprising two arms, the first of said arms having a pivotal and slidable connection with the latch bolt between its ends at one end thereof and the second of said arms being pivotally mounted on said support with a pivotal connection between said arms of the toggle, a relatively light spring means disposed between the support and the sec ond arm of the toggle for normally holding the toggle in dead center position, said second arm of the toggle at a distance from its pivot having an integral flange with a curved edge, a manually operated pivotally mounted member having a part engaging with said curved edge of the flange, and means for manually operating said member to turn it about its pivot and force it against said curved edge of the flange to swing the toggle away from dead center and retract the latch bolt and progressively change the point of contact of said member with said flange to greater distances away from the pivot of said manually actuated member.

4. A pivotally mounted latch bolt, a toggle comprising two pivotal arms, one of the arms of said toggle having a pivotal and slidable connection to the latch bolt between its ends, and the other arm of said toggle having a fixed pivotal mount, a relatively light spring acting on said other arm of the toggle for normally holding the bolt in latching position with th toggle arms substantially at dead center, a pivotally mounted manually operable member engaging with said other arm of the toggle to turn it about its pivotal mounting and retract the latch bolt, the contact of said pivotally mounted member with said toggle arm being a rolling contact and the point of contact between them progressively moving away from the pivotal axis of said member as the latch bolt is farther retracted.

5. In a latch construction having a support, a latch bolt pivotally mounted thereon at one end and provided with a keeper engaging means at its free end, a toggle comprising two pivotally connected arms, one having a pivotal and slidable connection at one end with said latch bolt between its ends and the other pivotally mounted on said support, said other toggle arm comprising a U-shaped member having spaced sides and a cross connecting portion therebetween which is located beyond the pivot of said arm, said cross connecting portion being extended into a flange having an edge, and a pivotally mounted operating member bearing against said edge and adapted to be turned to turn said toggle member about its pivot and retract the latch bolt, the point of contact beween said edge and operating member being nearest to the pivot of the operating member at the beginning and progressively moving farther away from said pivot as the bolt is retracted, and means for normally operating said operating member.

6. In a latch type wherein a pivotally mounted latch bolt isretracted by the breaking of a toggle connected thereto, said toggle comprising two arms, one connected to the bolt, the other being pivotally mounted and at a distance from its pivot having a bearing surface of curved form, and a means to turn said other toggle member about its pivot comprising a pivotally mounted manually actuated member bearing against said curved surface, said manually actuated member and said curved surface having a point of contact; nearest to the pivot of said member, when the latch bolt is in unretracted position, the point of contact; of said member and surface progressively moving away from the pivot of said member as the bolt is continued in retraction.

LLOYD L. ANDERSON. 

